FREDERICKTOWN — Fredericktown’s North Main Street has a new look.
The revamped downtown space was celebrated with a ribbon cutting Saturday.
“Council and local stakeholders went to work on a plan to drastically improve the downtown area and one of the goals of that plan was to connect people of all ages by making it safer for pedestrians and motorists alike,” said Fredericktown council president Rick Lanuzza.
This equated to providing aesthetic improvements along North Main Street from Public Square to Mill Street, known as the streetscape project.
In 2018, the Fredericktown council partnered with the Ohio Dept. of Transportation and secured $1.3 million in funding for the streetscape project. Smith Paving & Excavating won the project, with their bid coming in under $1.7 million.
It included replacing overgrown trees, dilapidated sidewalks with new ADA-compliant sidewalks, curb and gutters, streetlights with LED lighting and relocating overhead utility lines underground.
Additionally, traffic lights replaced four-way stops, and parallel parking took the place of diagonal on-street parking.
The Streetscape design committee will add season banners, hanging baskets and sidewalk planters in the future, Lanuzza said, noting the committee has raised over $10,000.
West Sandusky Street sidewalk improvements inbound
The Fredericktown council recently secured $800,000 for construction costs on West Sandusky Street and $1.65 million for water infrastructure improvements to North Main Street.
Also, council secured $550,000 for aesthetic improvements to the Ohio 95 bridge over Ohio 13, with both projects scheduled to begin in 2027, according to Lanuzza.
Likewise, council is seeking sidewalk improvement funds for use from Public Square, heading south to Columbus Road, and then west on Columbus Road to Mohican Drive. The target to complete that project is in 2028, Lanuzza said.